books.google.com - In 1972 UNESCO created the World Heritage Foundation, a program to identify and protect "world heritage sites" -irreplaceable environments ranging from natural areas to whole urban centers. To date over 600 such sites have been designated for protection on four continents, including places of worship,...http://books.google.com/books/about/World_Heritage.html?id=YIAVAQAAIAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareWorld Heritage

World Heritage: Archaeological Sites and Urban Centres

In 1972 UNESCO created the World Heritage Foundation, a program to identify and protect "world heritage sites" -irreplaceable environments ranging from natural areas to whole urban centers. To date over 600 such sites have been designated for protection on four continents, including places of worship, monuments, living settlements, and historic complexes, which taken together constitute an ideal tour of the history, cultures and creative expressions of humanity.

That tour begins here, in the first of the three-volume UNESCO World Heritage series: 46 living and archeological built environments from continuously-occupied cities such as Crakow and old Havana to archeological treasures such as Macchu Picchu (Peru) and Angkor Wat (Cambodia); Petra (Jordan); the Imperial Forums (Italy); the Casbah of Algiers; Teotihuacan (Mexico)-and discoveries that make a full spectrum of world cultures.

Each site is presented up close with color reproductions and a rich explanatory text. The volume is completed by the charter map of the World Heritage Foundation and includes UNESCO's standards for designation. With this particularly rich selection of images, places distant in time and space can be seen as connected in a singular and fascinating way: the true heritage of every nation and every individual.

From inside the book

Monumental Sites : Treasury of World Culture Series UNESCO World Heritage (World Heritage)

User Review - Not Available - Book Verdict

This lavishly illustrated work is the second of three volumes in the "UNESCO World Heritage" series, which draws from some 700 sites on the World Heritage List to present works thematically. This ... Read full review

Treasury of World Culture : Archaeological Sites and Urban Centers UNESCO World Heritage (UNESCO World Heritage)

User Review - Not Available - Book Verdict

For more than 30 years, the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has identified and documented sites that represent "the ... Read full review

About the author (2002)

UNESCO, based in the United Nations is the world body dedicated to the safeguarding of all sites identifiable as the shared heritage of humanity that may be threatened with destruction or radical transformation.

Valerio Terraroli, a professor at the University of Turin, is the author of numerous books on Italian decorative arts including Skira's Dictionary of Modern Decorative Arts 1851-1942.